Retail outlets such as department stores, discount stores, supermarkets, etc. sell various products ranging from electrical appliances to food. Globally, the largest retail outlets employ diverse strategies to attract consumers and obtain their business and convey relevant information to the consumer. Maintaining a positive relationship with a consumer and providing relevant information for a better shopping experience is a goal for any retail outlet in an effort to retain the consumer. Providing the consumer with information relating to promotional offers and the condition of a product in question is a way to achieve this goal.
There exists many challenges in the retail industry which include conveying promotional offers to attract more consumers, keeping track of inventory to know which products are popular or which products need to be ordered from a manufacturer, and staying competitive with other retail outlets. Further, there exists the challenge of detecting and preventing theft in real-time at a retail outlet. Thus the system described in the below sets out various embodiments is developed in an effort to address these challenges.
A planogram is a diagram that indicates the placement of products on a retail shelf and when a manufacturer sends a new product line to a retail outlet, the product line is accompanied with a planogram. Planograms provide a visual method of product positioning by placing products in strategic, pre-allocated positions on a shelf in a retail outlet. These planograms are created to enable consistent product placement and representation across various retail outlets and are arranged so that consumers are visually drawn to particular products within the arrangement.
Another method of product promotion to the consumer is with a promotional offer. The promotional offer may be made available to consumers if the particular product is about to expire, the particular product is about to be outdated due to the release of a new model, the particular product needs to be sold after the holiday season, etc. Promotional offers are often physically displayed alongside the particular product which the promotional offer is for and are static displays listing the dollar amount or percentage the consumer will save on said particular product.
Current retail theft detection schemes are commonly comprised of three main components, an electronic antenna or other communication link to detect an activated tag or label upon a consumer exiting the store, a deactivator or detector pad to deactivate a tag or label, and the physical electronic tag attached to the product. See, for example, Retail Theft Prevention's Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) System Anti-shoplifting Security System. These systems are efficient; however, there exists a need for improvement upon them. At the point of sale, each purchased product is verified as sold and an electronic tag or label is deactivated to prevent a theft detection scheme discussed hereinafter from alerting a retailer of a theft after a valid sale.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology utilizes electromagnetic fields to transfer data and the associated RFID tag or label can be either active or passive. An active RFID tag or label has a power source which allows transmission from the RFID tag or label to a RFID reader, whereas a passive RFID tag or label does not require a power source and the RFID tag or label is read by a RFID reader. RFID systems are classified by the type of tag or label and the reader they utilize, i.e. whether the RFID tag or label and/or the RFID is either active or passive. The tag or label is embedded within a particular product and consists of at least two parts: an integrated circuit for processing and storing information and for modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF) signal; and an antenna and transceiver or EMF generator may be provided for transmitting and receiving the RF signal. RFID readers communicate with RFID tags by transmitting and receiving encoded RF signals that contain a corresponding tags unique identifier and additional product-related information specified by a user. The unique identifier may be at least one of a serial number or the product-related information may be data collected by a plurality of sensors. Due to unique identifiers, the RFID system is able differentiate different products and the product-related data when the RFID tag is within the range of the RFID reader.
RFID systems are classified by the type of tag or label and the type of reader the system utilizes which include: a passive reader active tag (PRAT) system; an active reader passive tag (ARPT); and an active reader active tag (ARAT). Passive reader passive tag (PRPT) systems are not implemented in because either the RFID tag or RFID reader must be active for communication between them to occur. RFID tags or labels are small in size and embedding them within a product for tracking is well-known in the art. RFID systems are already employed in a diverse number of fields which include: airport baggage tracking, tracking of animals, and collecting road tolls. RFID frequency bands begin at 120 kilohertz (kHz) and extend to 10 gigahertz (GHz). Near field communication (NFC) is a sub-set of RFID technology which operates at 13.56 megahertz (MHz) and will be discussed hereinafter; therefore, the same classification based on the type of tag or label and the type of reader can be applied to NFC systems.
NFC is a form of high frequency RFID communication that allows at least two devices to communicate with one another when they are within a particular proximity of one another. Like RFID systems, NFC systems utilize electromagnetic fields to transfer data both to and from one device to another device and can be either active or passive. NFC is typically considered a short-range wireless technology which allows for peer-to-peer communication; however, large NFC networks can be created by the strategic placement of NFC tags and readers. Additionally, a smartphone, a smart watch, a tablet, or any device that utilizes NFC, WLAN, or any other communication link equipped with a NFC tag may utilize NFC as a primary method of communications.
Conductive ink is an ink that can be printed onto an object and conduct electricity. Conductive ink may be classified as either fired high solids systems or polymer thick film systems. Materials such as silver flakes and carbon are often used in conductive inks to achieve conductivity. This state-of-the-art technology provides an economic and innovative method for use in the retail industry and can also be used to print RFID tags or labels.